Resource Library

Through the application of math concepts students examine the degree of biodiversity that exists in the everyday environment in order to develop an understanding of how scientists classify organisms. They also explore why biodiversity is important for living things.

This resource contains lesson plans that integrate Native knowledge and scientific issues relating to the environment. Although there are multiple lessons plans, "Moose" and "Digging and Preparing Spruce Roots" are the most high school appropriate.

The EPA’s High School Environmental Center offers students easy access to age-appropriate information on air, conservation, ecosystems, recycling, waste management, water and other topics. You can refer students to the Web site or use it as a classroom activity.

The EPA’s Teacher Center features a collection of environmental curriculum, reference materials, fact sheets, brochures, teaching aids and Web pages teachers can use to educate themselves and introduce environmental issues into the classroom.

The EPA Web site is extensive, comprising more than 300 homepages and between one and two million pages of HTML text and PDF files. The Browse EPA Topics feature is an efficient tool to navigate through Web site content. Search results include basic information, pertinent laws and educational resources relating to that topic.

Use the EPA’s Regional Offices map to access the homepage for your region. Each regional homepage has an "Education" link under the Quick Finder, connecting you to education resources specific to your region.

Students can follow a research team as they discover how Weddell seals survive one of the harshest environments on the planet, Antarctica. The scientists post weekly updates of their research including video and sound clips, graphics and text. The program gives students the opportunity to experience science in action.

Students examine the historical natural selection model of moths by analyzing patterns in long-term data of light and dark colored moth populations. Using a graphing calculator students create graphs of the data and draw conclusions about the environment that created the results. Additional questions to explore how humans affect natural selection are included.

Encourage your students to develop reading comprehension skills with Earth Gauge Climate Fact sheets and backgrounders. Students learn the basics of how climate and weather systems work, how changes in climate impact them and what scientists are doing to learn more.

"The National Parks: America’s Best Idea," is a six-episode documentary directed by Ken Burns. It is the story of an idea as uniquely American as the Declaration of Independence - and just as radical: that the most special places in the nation should be preserved, not for royalty or the rich, but for everyone. The series began on Sept. 27, 2009 on PBS.